


Goat and Ram's Horns

by MorningGlory21



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: DadSchlatt, Gen, it was a cute idea and cute art i HAD to write it, tommyinnit branded cursing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:27:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27214921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorningGlory21/pseuds/MorningGlory21
Summary: His shenanigans pale when a man with ram's horns and ears and eyes comes to town. His name is Schlatt and he has profit on the mind. Tommy is immediately enamored. And whilst the man shoos off every other child, Tommy is hesitantly invited in.-----DadSchlatt, but with Tommy this time :)
Relationships: Jschlatt & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 528





	1. Chapter 1

He's never questioned who his family is. Phil is his dad; Wilbur and Techno are his older brothers; and Tubbo is so much like his brother that he doesn't care he really isn't. Wilbur likes to joke that they found him on the side of a mountain and Techno always chimes in with -

_ And you fought a mountain goat at the tender age of five!  _

And Tommy takes pride in that. That he could hold his own, even if he does go running for Phil when he loses his first baby tooth. Or that sometimes Tubbo has to fight for him, because he got them both in trouble with the town guard. Tommy has more of a knack for his words. 

But his words aren't honey sweet like Wilbur's. And they aren't lowly terrifying like Techno's (even though Tommy knows he comes home nervous and tired from being around others for too long). And his words aren't as soothing, or as supportive, as his father's are. 

No, Tommy is as sly as a fox ( _ not that Fundy was a sly person, please, dad, I'm not making fun - _ ). He ropes people into deals and then runs for the hills when they've been duped. He uses the small nubs of horns, hidden beneath his mop of hair, to beguile. For all intents and purposes Tommy is annoying, but not harmful. A sometimes funny nuisance with a heart of gold beneath. 

His shenanigans pale when a man with ram's horns and ears and eyes comes to town. His name is Schlatt and he has profit on the mind. Tommy is immediately enamored. And whilst the man shoos off every other child, Tommy is hesitantly invited in. 

Tommy runs errands, all the while Wilbur voices his concerns. Schlatt has choked out the competition in town, bearing down on every industry he can get his paws on. And Tommy shakes his head, defends the man he looks up to. 

It's just business, Wilbur.

Until it isn't, Tommy, Wilbur shakes his head with a frown.

Tommy isn’t stupid. He sees what Schlatt is doing, and something in his innermost soul tells him  _ this is wrong _ . When he watches Schlatt strong arm a small bakery into giving up their livelihoods to him, he goes home feeling like lead. When Schlatt badmouths everybody, Tommy wonders if he does the same to the teen. 

And yet, he stays. He stays, because Schlatt has the same horns he does - or what Tommy  _ will _ have, Schlatt assures him. Smooths over all of his ruffled feathers and tells him the best charts and strategies for  _ business _ .

And so, he stays, because there’s something drawing him in. A distant memory that flickers like a fish at the edge of his father’s pond. It’s scales flash with recognition, when Schlatt looks at him longer than usual. At first, it unnerves him - until he too recognizes that emotion in the ram’s eyes.

_ Nostalgia _ . 

The same emotion Phil has when he speaks fondly of when Tommy, Techno and Wilbur were younger. Days gone by, things never to be found again. And that unnerves him even more, especially when Schlatt talks to him as if they’ve known each other since the day Tommy was born. A certain  _ paternal _ familiarity that Tommy has only ever reserved for Phil.

And so, Tommy distances himself. Fear of the unknown, unable to gain an upper hand pushes him away like a magnet. If he was smarter, or stronger, or older, he’d try to figure it out by himself.

Instead, he goes home and asks Phil where he came from. Away from the prying ears of Wilbur and Techno.

“Like I’ve told you, I found you.” He tells Tommy and Tommy can’t tell if he’s lying, or he’s genuine and he curses adults for being so unreadable to  _ Tommy _ , the trickster. “I don’t know who your parents were, or where you came from - just a poor kid we found.”

And he pats Tommy on the head, even as Tommy feels like lightning in a bottle. He goes to bed and touches his growing horns. They just barely jut out now, like the crests of mountains and as he reflects on it, reflects on Schlatt, he decides quietly that Wilbur was right.

He’s right, because Schlatt forces Niki to give up her bakery. ( _ Small businesses just aren’t profitable anymore, Tommy. _ )

He’s right, because Schlatt weedles his way into their town’s election. ( _ He’s never liked Wilbur’s anger and restlessness, and Tommy knows because Schlatt would say it around him. _ )

He’s right, because he forces Tubbo out of business - his prized bee farm, emblazoned with the ram’s symbol of a blazing red background and horns. ( _ Take what’s popular and ride that baby into the sunset, Tommy _ .)

Tommy is angry, because Schlatt comes to him another one day. He’s ruined his friends, he’s their mayor and he’s made his family leave. Tubbo, Wilbur, Techno and his father left so long ago ( _ really, it’s been a week, but he’s too angry to care about  _ **_time_ ** **)** \- all because of Schlatt. And he’s starting to look at him.

It’s why Schlatt comes to him at a river’s edge, Tommy angrily poking and prodding at his nose and floppy ears and eyes that pierce through him. First, his horns and now this? He doesn’t want to be the facsimile of the man he used to idolize and now he hates. And he pointedly ignores Schlatt, who lingers behind him - ever still the same dressed, with a rose pinned to his lapel. 

“What’s a boy like you out here?” Schlatt asks so casually, like he’s asking after the weather and not like he’s the man who destroyed Tommy’s home and family - like he has the right to be casual. “Then again, you tended to come out here to -”

“Shut the fuck up.” Tommy whirls around, on his feet in seconds. “I don’t know who you think you are, but -”

“Well, I’d say I’m your  _ real _ father.” Schlatt waves a hand and he smiles as if he has the right to bring that hammer down. “That I  _ lost _ . You’re my son!”

Tommy stares at him. “How did you  _ lose _ me?”

And why would he ever think he has the right to be privy to a non-conniving Schlatt? He stows that part of him that knows they’re both liars in different ways as he awaits his  _ father’s _ verdict. And Tommy wonders why he hasn’t run yet, as Schlatt lays his hands on his shoulders - a mockery of the fondness that Phil gave him.

“Well, you see - I travel quite a lot. And my associates, who were supposed to be watching you, well they lost you.” And Tommy glares at the man whose horns curl around and back. “And I’ve been looking for you.”

And why would he ever believe him? The man who hurt his friends, who bad mouths anybody when their backs are turned. And why does Tommy, somehow, not doubt the affectionate and loving look in his  _ father’s  _ eyes? 

He doesn’t yield, though and he even pushes him away.

“You will never be my father.” He hisses and he puffs out as he backs away. “You may be my  _ first _ , but you are not my  _ current _ .”

He doesn’t yield, even when a flash of hurt crosses through the ram’s eyes. 

“So be it, then.”

He doesn’t yield, even as he runs in the direction of where his family had gone. He doesn’t care, even if he does in a very small amount, that Schlatt had seemed genuine. For the first time in the time Tommy has known him.

He tells himself he doesn’t care.


	2. Father & Son

Tommy doesn’t remember, but Schlatt does.

He really isn’t a  _ bad _ person - he just sees flaws and exploits them for his own gain. It worked and why stop doing things that work? And he remembers that it's the best way to the top. 

And he taught his son everything he knew. 

And he remembers when he found the little devil ( _ his _ little devil, thought fondly), in Schlatt’s own world. A world meant for business and industry and progress. How Schlatt found him might sound unbelievable, like something from an ancient tale of Gods and myth. 

Was it really hard, amidst the tales of dragons and fantastical machines that he and his associates built, that his son came from a Golden Apple? One of the rarest and most whispered about items? Of course, those who knew, and mistrusted, Schlatt would have thought him a liar trying to weasel his way from the confines of a secret lady - that he wanted to shed the restraints it would have placed on him first of all.

With nobody to back him up on that cool, early Spring evening, he could forgive those assumptions of his character. But all of it was true; that he had gone for a walk to clear his mind after a day in the factory, that he had gone to the far edge of a forest and found a very old and very beaten path that took him to a blooming tree.

And at the foot of the tree had fallen a hefty looking Golden Apple. The ram had blinked, curious and already studying the tree it had fallen from - for business, of course. His hooves had scraped across the soft earth and nearly tripped on a root. It called his attention downwards and again, he blinked.

Naked as any who were born to the world, was an infant boy. He already had the smallest signs of fur around his ears and his nose mirrored Schlatt’s to a startling degree.

“Now… what do we have here?” Thunderstruck, the ram took the suddenly wailing baby boy into his arms and kept him close, away from the cold air. “You’ve got quite the entrance. I already like you for that.”

The angry little blond bundle just wailed louder, enraged by his cold and forced entry into this realm. He made his presence known and Schlatt could respect that. 

“How to explain to the boys ‘yes, I found a random infant in the woods, no I do not know where he came from’.”

Schlatt hummed in thought over the din of the child. 

"Yeah, I think this will be the start of something great." He smiled fondly and began the trek back. 

The night air seemed just a touch kinder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got a few more chapter ideas that are short but still! I hope you guys enjoy <3


	3. forgiving who you are / for what you stand to gain

It was a harmless thing, Tommy recognized. They were self-imposed exiles and they needed somewhere to live. A home was needed and with great haste. Phil knew of a small meadow, with an old cabin. And Tommy was perfectly fine with that - quiet, away from the man who was his  _ father _ (he still thought it was a fucking lie) and with his family.

Fine with it, until he saw the giant and expansive river adjacent. If he laid in a room in the cabin, the sound of the rushing waters could reach his ears. Tommy held back the choking fear that rose up, though he privately hissed his anger to his dad.

“You  _ know _ I don’t like water and - and shit like  _ that _ .” He motioned wildly in the general direction of the river, though it was unseen through the newly repaired wall. “Why’d we have to come here?”

And though he tried so hard, a hint of a whine twined itself into his tone. The river he had met Schlatt at had been nearly dead, no threat of drowning unless he fell and couldn’t pick himself up.

Phil looks sympathetic and a hand is settled on his shoulder. “I understand Tommy. But there isn’t a more readily available and pre-built cabin for us to live in. My room is the farthest from the river, and I barely hear much - would you want it?”

Tommy feels a heat bloom across his face. Embarrassed, because he felt like he was being babied. Would he have accepted the offer, if he hadn’t had a ( _ lie)  _ bombshell dropped on him just a few days prior. Blood rushed in his ears and he jerked away from his dad, feeling anger and confusion coalesced onto the edge of his eyes.

“No. I’ll fucking deal with it.”

He stomped out, and he didn't care about the concerned face on his dad’s face. Nor the worried voices that followed him out of the house. Tommy walked, his head felt like a lead weight, and he walked, his feet like two wildfires as they burned their paths through the forest, and he walked, his heart ready to explode - and why? He had to be overreacting to a blatant lie. 

The forest was alive with noise and it overwhelmed him.

Tommy found a space on a hill ( _ how far from his family? He didn’t know, nor did he care _ ), that overlooked the new and untouched valley they had moved closer to. A flicker of a thought in his mind placed factories and roads and homes in places and he shook his head.

Those were thoughts of a businessman and Tommy felt a bittersweet emotion at the edge of his mind - that he had yearned to be like his  _ father _ , and that he had allowed the downfall of his little village. And he was alone with the faintest touch of memories that beckoned him like fish at the edge of a pond. Faint memories of gold that shone without light, the hum of a factory gone forever, sheep’s wool untamed and tamed into clothing and a loud burst of sound followed by nothing.

Tommy felt the floodgates open and he started to drown in his own mind. Heels of his hands pressed firmly against his eyes, until stars exploded in his eyes. The brief pain grounded him, as did the hand that startled him.

“You okay, Tommy?” Tubbo’s concerned voice pulled him out of the flooded state of his mind and he couldn’t stand to look at his friend, but he leaned into him all the same.

“I dunno…” Tommy whispered. “Everything’s so confusing.”

And Tubbo seems to take that differently ( _ and why wouldn’t he? He’s not in Tommy’s brain, which swirled in a miasma of a different, distant, life _ ), because he sighed and nodded.

“Yeah, it’s not fun to have to leave my house and my bees.” He nudged Tommy with a friendly smile. “But it’ll be okay. Techno said Schlatt would get bored and leave and then we could chase out his company!”

“That’s ‘cause Techno likes to fight shit.” Tommy sighed, but Tubbo stood. “I’ll go back soon. Just gotta get my brain together, y’know?”

His friend nodded, said something that was lost to Tommy’s murky waters and left. Tommy stared out at the distant lands and wondered - why do I think of a life I have never lived? Not concrete, only the faintest idea.

And he stood, ready to follow his beaten path, when he felt the wind rush along his body. 

But something caught in it - not a sheet, nor a tree, nor a signpost - along his face, his ears. His fingers ran along it and in their path, they tracked through -

Untamed sheep’s wool. 

Tommy felt his world plunge into a memory buried and he couldn’t breathe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter we get some more memories FLUSHED EMOJI
> 
> Chapter title is from Little Dark Age by MGMT, which is what I listened to mainly to write this chapter

**Author's Note:**

> For https://gheysnakelady.tumblr.com/ on tumblr for their dadschlatt of Tommy idea :) Check them out!! Their art is super cool.


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